Examples

Associated Press Babe Didrikson Zaharias, taking a practice swing at a tournament in 1949 If you are looking for a golf beach read, I can recommend two: "Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias," by Don Van Natta Jr., and "The Swinger," a juicy, fast-read novel by Sports Illustrated writers Michael Bamberger and Alan Shipnuck about a multiracial global golf superstar undone by a sex scandal.

Olympic medalist Mildred "Babe" Didrikson, one of the greatest women athletes of modern times, set world records in the 1930s in the women's 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw and competed in track, basketball, baseball, football, and even boxing.

Larger than life in their own day, their deeds and legends enduring the passage of time, Babe Ruth and his namesake, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, prevailed as the top man and woman in The Associated Press 100 Athletes of the Century poll released Saturday.